


soft things.

by beeluvd



Series: Peko Makes Friends (because it's what she deserves) [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hope's Peak Academy (Dangan Ronpa), Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Developing Friendships, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Male-Female Friendship, Peko loves animals, Rantaro needs a hug, They both need a good ol confidence boost, They both need hugs actually, Ultimate Talent Development Plan (Dangan Ronpa)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27129850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeluvd/pseuds/beeluvd
Summary: “Hey Peko!”The swordswoman looked up from her homework to see a tall, green haired figure walking towards her across the dining hall. His mossy hair looked messy, as though he had been running his hands through it for a while. A black phone lay clutched in his left hand, and he had the corners of his mouth curled upwards in an easygoing half smile.Peko was not usually one to break out into a smile, being the deeply stoic person that she was. However, when she caught the rare glimpse of a certain friendly face, she felt a lighthearted grin—one that was only ever reserved for this specific person—sneak its way onto her usually impassive features.“Hello, Rantaro!”—Rantaro returns from one of his trips with a photo album full of animals for Peko.Peko learns about what it means to smile. Rantaro learns to let his guard down a little. They both try to figure out how to feel vulnerable again.—Based off of literally two interactions between the two in Peko's Talent Development Plan that made me smile so big that I had to write about it.
Relationships: Amami Rantaro & Pekoyama Peko, I literally dont see any tags for these two wtf, Pekoyama Peko & Rantaro Amami
Series: Peko Makes Friends (because it's what she deserves) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980221
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	soft things.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [danielphobic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/danielphobic/gifts), [satanstrachea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/satanstrachea/gifts).



> Okay so these two are my literal favs and when I saw them interacting in Peko's Talent Development Plan I wanted to scream so bad. This is based off of those interactions where Rantaro shows her cute animal pictures. I felt that there were a lot of similarities between the two that have never really been explored before so I wanted to try doing that! =) There are also like no fics between these two favs of mine so I wanted to make it a reality lol
> 
> *This is also meant to be platonic but again, who am I to judge you if u wanna think otherwise

“Hey Peko!”

The swordswoman looked up from her homework to see a tall, green haired figure walking towards her across the dining hall. His mossy hair looked messy, as though he had been running his hands through it for a while. A black phone lay clutched in his left hand, and he had the corners of his mouth curled upwards in an easygoing half smile. 

Peko was not usually one to break out into a smile, being the deeply stoic person that she was. However, when she caught the rare glimpse of a certain friendly face, she felt a lighthearted grin—one that was only ever reserved for this specific person—sneak its way onto her usually impassive features. 

“Hello, Rantaro!”

The tall boy half raised his right hand in a wave. “What’s going on Peko! It’s so good to see you again,” he mused as he reached her table, circling around her and pulling up a chair to the right of her. “I come bearing gifts!” He laughed good naturedly, setting his phone on the table as the red eyed girl quickly stashed away her now-forgotten homework.

Peko’s earlier smile was filled with unmistakable excitement, but she now tried to hold it back. “Thank you again for doing this, Rantaro,” she said solemnly, trying to reign in her unsophisticated enthusiasm.

“You don’t have to say that every time, you know,” he responded, running a hand through his already messy hair and trying to laugh off his slight awkwardness. “Seriously, I really do enjoy doing this for you. It actually gives me something to look forward to when I’m out—” Rantaro caught his tongue. “Traveling,” he finished, the word oddly weighted with hesitation.

Though it was only for a second, Peko noticed this. She was observant by nature and, in this moment, curious and unsure as to why Rantaro would hesitate to talk about traveling. Upon further thought, she decided that if she’d slipped up and accidentally let loose her role within the Kuzuryu clan, the last thing she’d want someone to do was question her. It was his business, not hers. So she moved on. 

“So how was your trip this time?” Peko asked him, attempting to not make this conversation entirely about her not-so-secret desire to look at the dozens of animal pictures that she knew littered Rantaro’s camera roll.

“Oh you know, it was,” Rantaro’s voice trailed off. He never quite knew how to respond to that question, even after all these years. “Not as eventful as one might think,” he decided on. Honestly, at this point he should know how to answer that.

Peko tilted her head slightly. “How so?” she asked. Rantaro had to have been around the whole world at this point. Surely he must have some sort of fun. 

Instead, his brows knit together in perterbation. “Let’s just say I go on these trips for reasons other than leisure,” he tried, avoiding eye contact.

Something swirled behind the alluring green of his irises. Peko had seen it before. Worry? Anguish? It was haunting yet familiar, almost something that she felt she had seen in the eyes of her own reflection. A part of her wanted to ask for more, but another part of her told her to hold back. _‘That’s not your place,’_ a voice in her head that was not quite hers reprimanded her. She nodded internally and decided to focus on the main matter at hand, the thought of it making her heart begin to beat giddily like a drum.

“Where did you go this time? And what kind of animals did you get to see on this trip?” Peko’s voice was uncharacteristically filled with eagerness, eyes glittering as he unlocked his phone in his left hand.

“Found myself in the Philippines this time. And oh you know, a lotta street animals,” he started as he began pulling up some photos. Immediately her eyes glowed like fire; not the blazing, burning kind, but more like that of a campfire, warm and welcoming. Rantaro let loose an easy smile as he pulled up a picture of one of the street dogs he’d encountered.

“Look at that coat! He looks like he’d be so soft…” Peko’s eyes were filled with longing as Rantaro zoomed in on the pup. It was rather dirty from living its life on the streets, but its coat was still a beautiful light brown and it’s tongue lolled lazily out of the dog’s mouth as it lay on its side in the grass.

Rantaro chuckled. “He was a real cute one. I fed him a little bit of the leftover street food I had from the vendors just up the road from here,” he explained as he scrolled to the next photo. 

“Oh, sorry,” he gave one of his deep, rich laughs as a picture of some of that said street food popped up. “Ignore that,” he said with a low chuckle.

Peko gave a light laugh in return. “It looks good,” she tried playfully, leaning in to observe closer. “I haven’t had whatever this is, but it looks quite delicious. I’d have loved to try some,” she added.

Rantaro nodded. “One of the families I met taught me how to make it while over there. It’s called _sisig_ and it’s quite simple, you just gotta cook it for the right amount of time,” he explained.

Peko looked up from the phone and at him. “Maybe you should make it for me sometime,” she told him in a friendly, joking manner, playfully nudging his shoulder. Rantaro felt his smile grow.

“You’re on, Pekoyama,” he challenged, letting out a small breath of laughter as the corners of his mouth curled upward.

Peko felt as though a small flower blossomed inside of her, only to be quickly ripped out the next second. Moments like these were so nice, it almost felt like she was doing exactly what a “normal high school girl” would be doing. Sitting here bantering with Rantaro, someone who she genuinely looked forward to seeing and someone who always went out of his way to do something for her that he absolutely did not have to do, Peko couldn’t help but feel like a fraud. 

Would he still want to sit here and show her pictures from his exotic travels all over the world if he knew what she was or what she did? Did she even deserve his company? Looking at cute animal pictures and blushing over a stray dog is not exactly something that a “tool” should be doing in their free time. Tools didn’t need friends, tools didn’t _want_ friends, but she was supposed to be “normal” while she was here. _‘But this is what he wanted you to do,’_ she repeated to herself. 

_‘Go, be a normal high school girl. Make actual friends. Do whatever normal girls do.’_ She repeated Fuyuhiko’s words that he told her on the first day of school back to her, the sharp pain of those sad and confusing feelings stabbing her in the stomach all over again. _‘Is this what normal girls do? Am I doing this right?’_ These words played in her head over and over again every single day, analyzing each and every interaction she had with another student at this school, praying that she was playing the part of a normal girl right. 

_‘Is this what normal girls do? Am I doing this right?’_ The swordswoman struggled with these thoughts as she tried to understand her place, trying to understand what she was supposed to be doing or feeling. She tried to physically shake the feeling of discomfort within her own body, her pale locks swaying slightly with her subtle shuddering.

Peko’s silver braids shivered slightly, barely noticeable to anyone but the boy sitting beside her. Her eyes became oddly glassy, a thin sheen of uneasiness glazing over her red irises. “Woah, you okay?” Rantaro asked, suddenly concerned.

“Wha? Oh, yes. My apologies, I just thought of...something,” she answered weakly. Rantaro frowned slightly, worry knitting his eyebrows together. 

“Hey, if you don’t want me to cook for you that’s alright, I might be a lousy chef anyways,” he laughed, trying to ease the small layer of tension that clouded over the silver haired girl’s face. Peko’s eyes reverted to their firelike state.

“No, I would still like that very much,” she replied, voice easygoing and filled with delight again.

Rantaro smiled, sunflowers blooming in his mossy eyes. “How ‘bout I show you some more pictures of those animals, yeah?” He continued, pulling up some more pictures. Peko’s smile returned, making either side of Rantaro’s lips tug upwards just ever so slightly. “This is a cat that followed me around for half a day. She was quite the partner,” he explained, pulling up a picture of a small tabby streaked with different shades of brown.

A small sigh of longing escaped Peko’s throat, eyes fixated on the little cat. “She looks so cute,” Peko said, voice filled with yearning. Rantaro gave a breathy laugh.

“Yeah she scratched me up real good when I tried to stop her from running into the street. Worth it though,” he said, shaking his head in amusement. Peko’s eyes widened.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, suddenly and very seriously. Rantaro blinked, confused.

“Oh. Nah, I was just being overprotective is all,” he attempted to brush it off. _‘Really, it’s just a couple scratches, what’s she so worried about?’_ he thought to himself.

“May I see them?” Peko demanded, soft but still firm. Rantaro hesitated. 

“Uh, yeah, sure. It’s really not a big deal, I just gotta slap a bandaid on them later or something,” he reassured her, bringing his left sleeve up. _‘Honestly, I’ve had much worse,’_ he thought bitterly as he recalled the memories of getting stabbed in the streets of New York while on a lead looking for his second to youngest sister. Peko brought her outstretched fingers to touch the scratches that traveled the length of his forearm.

“You’re hurt,” she said sadly, her voice low.

Rantaro was caught off guard. “It’s just a few scratches, nothing a bit of neosporin won’t fix in a couple days,” he shrugged. Peko looked up to meet his eyes.

He was shocked to find that they were full of guilt.

“Peko?” he found his voice quietly, almost at a whisper. Her eyes swelled with remorse, but he couldn’t find it in himself to look away.

He cupped this moment in the palms of his hands, careful not to shatter it. 

“I want to see all the cute animals you do, but I do not want you to get harmed in the process,” she told him in a low voice, each word brimming with pain. Rantaro quickly rolled his sleeve down to cover the scars.

“Peko seriously, it’s just a scratch,” he laughed awkwardly. Still her face was ridden with something terrifyingly familiar to him.

Shame.

Shame like the agonizing shame he had felt when his first sister disappeared on their first family trip to Indonesia, just mere steps behind him and then suddenly gone. 

Shame like burning shame he had felt when he lost his twelfth sister in Berlin, when he was holding her hand and clutching her close to him, desperate not to lose her, when the three seconds before she let go were the last three seconds of proof he ever got to feel of her existence.

Shame like the deep, piercing shame he felt yesterday night after landing back in Japan to go back to Hope’s Peak. Like the shame he felt on the train ride back to campus knowing that he spent another week fruitlessly searching for someone who’s disappearance was his fault. Like the shame he felt prior to entering the dining hall just a few minutes beforehand, because he wasn’t sure if he was doing this for her out of the goodness of his heart or because he just so badly needed to feel useful again. 

_Shame._

_Shame._

**_Shame_ ** _._

_‘How many people have to get hurt because of me?’_ Peko cursed internally at herself, recalling one of the few times she had failed to protect Fuyuhiko. A vivid memory of watching him get shot in the left arm replayed in slow motion behind her eyes like a movie, time slowing down as she heard his scream of pain in her ears. _‘I was too late,’_ she thought disgracefully. How many more times would she have to see him get injured because of her own incompetence? Shame and self hatred coursed through her veins, burning her up from the inside. 

‘ _Why can’t you do anything right?’_ A voice that wasn’t hers screamed at her. ‘ _I am sorry, I will do better,’_ she responded automatically. _‘What are you?’_ The voice sneered, louder now. _‘I am just a tool,’_ she repeated. Automatic. Muscle memory. _‘I am just a tool. Tools do not need emotions, tools do not need to feel. I know my purpose.’_ She repeated the familiar stanza that she knew so well to herself over and over again. Yes, familiar and natural and straightforward. Tools don’t need things. More importantly, tools don’t hurt people. Tools exist to be hurt, to take the blow of those who don’t deserve it, and yet here she was being the main cause of someone’s injury. White hot pain shot through her heart harder than any bullet. _‘How many more times will Rantaro get hurt because of my silly little selfish desires to see some more animals? How many—’_

“Hey, Peko?”

She was back in the dining hall, hand still hovering over Rantaro’s now covered left arm. “Oh—” Peko just realized how heavily she was breathing.

“Are you...okay?” Rantaro asked gently, tenderly, not sure if he was more afraid of breaking her or himself. She straightened her back out and brought her hands back to the table, clasped together, left thumb over right.

“Yes, I apologize. I seem to have...a lot on my mind today,” she sighed. Rantaro cocked his head, just slightly. 

“You wanna talk about it?”

He was always doing these things for other people, playing the older brother type. _‘Old habits die hard I guess,’_ he thought begrudgingly to himself. But truthfully, every instinct in him urged him to reach out to this possibly emotionally stressed girl in front of him. Rantaro always did have a bad habit of doing nothing for himself yet everything for others. He wasn’t entirely sure what had just played through Peko’s head in the moment where she saw the image of his shallow scars given to him by a street cat, but he knew that something terrifying flashed across those crimson eyes of hers. 

Truthfully, though he barely knew anything about this girl, he felt a sort of comfort with her. He and Peko weren’t particularly close; in fact the only real interactions they had were when he came back to Hope’s Peak for a few days to show her some animal pictures. However, for some reason unbeknownst to himself, he felt like he could be somewhat at ease around her. 

A lot of the people he talked to knew her as Peko Pekoyama the “stone cold” or “really scary” swordswoman, and while it was true that she was intimidating at first sight, Rantaro found that she was one of the few people at this school that he felt like he could actually slightly relax and let his guard down around, seeing that she never asked questions about anything. She was someone that he actually looked forward to seeing whenever he came back from those godforsaken failures disguised as “trips,” and she actually gave him something small to look forward to when he went back on them. 

A sudden realization hit Rantaro square in the face.

  
  


_She was the only person he could think of that truly looked forward to being around him._

  
  


This sudden awareness bubbled in Rantaro’s stomach, unsure if it was good or bad. On one hand, he could only think of one person off the top of his head that actually looked forward to seeing him. On the other hand, it was more than zero, which is what he originally accounted for. That was something to deal with on another time, Rantaro decided. Right now, he was concerned with the wide eyed girl in front of him, her left thumb slowly rubbing her right and a weighted look of disturbance dusted oh so subtly across her face.

His question still hung in the air, unanswered. Then, he saw her eyes begin to harden again, flushing away all sense of vulnerability as though it had never been there in the first place. Rantaro’s heart still clung to the idea that he could help her, that he could be her confidant. Right now, he just wanted to let her know that she could tell him anything. But then again, maybe that was just his own self desperately wanting to feel wanted. Maybe for the first time since the loss of his very last sister, Rantaro could prove that he was useful. That he was someone worth being around. Maybe...

“No, not particularly.”

But it seemed not today.

Rantaro let a small sigh escape him. “Alright, whatever you say. But hey, offer’s still on the table whenever you feel like it, alright?” he told her, sincerity in his voice.

Peko gave him a small smile. “Thank you, Rantaro.” Her eyes flooded with warmth. “And...you too,” she said with a small, stiff nod.

_‘‘Is this what normal girls do?_

_Am I doing this right?’_

Rantaro cocked his head slightly. Peko seemed unnaturally tense, more so than her usual straight backed self, but he knew better than to pry. He’d already tried and put that offer on the table, but it was clear she didn’t want to discuss whatever it was she was feeling any further. So, against all his instincts, Rantaro moved forward with a phrase he knew would get her feeling warm and happy again.

“Do you wanna look at more puppy pictures?”

That was all it took. Her eyes glittered like rubies, face flushing like the early dawn. “Ah! Yes, please!” she responded enthusiastically. All fear and worry dissolved from Rantaro’s body as they both turned back to the phone still clutched in his left hand.

Peko leaned forward, her neat braids brushing Rantaro’s shoulder. “What kind of dog is that?” she asked, intruiged by the strange figure on the screen.

Rantaro gave a light chuckle. “That’s a Xoloitzcuintli, a type of hairless dog,” he hummed.

Peko laughed, her voice ringing through the air like a windchime. “I did not know dogs could be hairless.”

Rantaro returned the favor, his laughter resonating in her bones. “Neither did I until I saw it for myself.” He swiped to the next picture in his camera roll, hoping it wasn’t anything too embarrassing.

They were met with a very close up picture of a baby goat he’d seen at one of the farms there. Rantaro heard the usually threatening Ultimate Swordswoman make a high pitched gasping sound, one that you’d usually hear out of a little girl. He turned his head, wondering if something was the matter. “You alright?” He asked. She answered by nodding her head up and down, stardust speckling her eyes.

“It’s very...very cute!” she cooed, expression melting into bliss, succumbing to the cuteness onscreen. Rantaro felt his brief expression of concern dissolve back into contentment when he realized that she was not hurt, rather just smitten with the picture of this rather adorable kid.

Peko leaned forward towards the small screen, drinking in the image, still hungry for more. “Did you get to pet it?” she asked, a hint of hopefulness in her voice.

Rantaro chuckled. “Nah, only had time to snap a quick picture before I had to head onward. But I wanted to make sure I got a picture of it for you, I knew you’d like it,” he hummed, happy that he was right. The girl’s eyes shimmered starlight. 

“I’m very grateful that you go out of your way to do this for me Rantaro, really,” she told him in a soft voice reserved only for small animals and for moments like these. Rantaro’s grin grew larger, his nose scrunching up.

“Yeah well like I told you before, it’s nice to have something else to do on these trips,” he said affectionately while Peko put two fingers on his phone screen to enlarge the photo of the baby goat. He watched as she absorbed every inch of the picture, taking in every detail, her face full of a certain kind of life that he’d never seen in her before.

“You know,” Rantaro started slowly, not wanting to disturb her too much but still having something to say. “I only really see you this excited when you’re looking at animal pictures,” he said, often observing the way her face flushed with elation whenever she was immersed in the animal pictures he brought back to her. Peko’s shoulders fell just a little, and Rantaro was immediately hit with a wave of regret. 

“Ah, sorry, that was a little forward of me,” Rantaro said sheepishly, running his free hand through his hair. “No, it’s fine,” Peko responded, lifting her head to look more directly at him. This time when he met her gaze, he was not met with a sense of shame, but something else that was just as familiar.

Peko looked lost.

When Rantaro caught the full impact of her crimson red gaze, instead of feeling intimidated or scared, Rantaro felt lost. He felt lost, like the sister he’d lost in Malaysia, or the one he’d lost in Ethiopia, or the one he’d lost in Brazil. Not only that, but he also saw in her eyes the same lack of direction he saw in his own eyes every day. For a split second he wondered if she understood what it was like to lose yourself, save for one sole mission that mattered above everything else. He wondered if she knew what it was like to lose yourself in your one alleged purpose in the world.

_‘But there’s no way she’d know what that’s like, right?’_

A sense of discomfort settled inside of him, and he was suddenly unsure what to say.

Peko wondered what he saw in her when his forest eyes met fire.

“I think,” she started, stopping to find the right words. “I think that I am still figuring out what else it is that I...enjoy,” she finished, hoping that he would understand. A part of her told her to keep everything in (‘ _Tools don’t need friends. Tools don’t need emotions.’_ a voice that wasn’t hers called out), but a small, miniscule part of her maybe secretly wanted him to understand, even if she herself didn’t know it yet.

Another realization hit Rantaro like a bus. This time it finally registered with him:

_‘I barely know anything about this girl.’_

“Well what do you do outside of looking at baby goat pictures?” Rantaro tried, brushing some stray hair out of his eyes. Peko furrowed her brow in concentration.

“Practice kendo. Train. Sometimes I read. Often I meditate,” she answered, straightforward.

“Don’t you spend time with your class? Or your friends?” Rantaro asked, a small familiar seed of worry beginning to take root in the back of his head.

_‘Tools don’t need friends.’_

_‘Be a normal high school girl. Make actual friends. Do whatever normal girls do.’_

She paused.

_‘Am I doing this right?’_

“I do spend time with my class, but I spend a majority of my time perfecting my craft and my talent,” she said unambiguously, her signature stoniness returning to her eyes.

“Well what else do you like to do? Alone, or with other people?” Rantaro’s small seed of concern was growing leaves now.

Peko was silent for an unsettlingly long time. 

“I don’t really know.” She answered quietly.

_‘Well that was pretty straightforward,’_ Rantaro thought, partially admiring her bluntness.

He hoped he wasn’t prying, that he wasn’t being too invasive to this person that he just realized he may not even technically know very well. On the other hand, Rantaro had seen Peko interact with other members of his class from afar. She seemed deeply confused around Angie, especially guarded around Korekiyo, and just plain confused and wildly uncomfortable around Miu. She’d gotten along alright with Tenko before, as they were both athletes, but that was the only thing he could bring to mind. (A part of him wondered if she had met Maki yet; he’d bet that they’d get along.) If he really thought long and hard about it, he was really the only person in his class that he’d seen her be relatively at ease around. An odd thought tugged at him, gnawing at his ribcage.

“What about you?”

“Huh?” Rantaro was snapped out of his train of thought.

“I asked, what about you?” Peko tilted her head to the side in thought, her silver hair swishing alongside her movement. 

“What do you do besides travel?”

This was not a question in retaliation, rather one that was asked out of sheer curiosity. He detected no malice in her statement, just a genuine question that he hadn’t heard for a while. I guess after dedicating your whole life to one thing, everything else just fades away into the background. Including the people around you.

Now it was Rantaro’s turn to be at a loss for words. He let loose a low laugh, one rich with irony.

“I don’t really know either.”

Another short silence hung in the air between them, neither quite sure what to say or how to respond, but eventually Rantaro was the one to break the wall.

“I guess we both have pretty bad tunnel vision, huh.”

Maybe there were more similarities between them that they might have initially thought, ones they’d never known were there or ones they’d never even considered to think about.

She met his gaze in the middle, a burning forest fire in the middle of the room, and found a small grin crawling its way onto her face once again. 

“I guess so.”

A feeling of mutual affection that would someday grow into a garden began planting its seeds in each of them. 

As if on cue, the two of them leaned forwards and turned back towards the phone screen, swiping to the next picture, which happened to be a rather fat rabbit. “Hey Peko, another weird question but,” Rantaro chose his next words carefully. “Why do you like animal pictures so much?”

A small sigh escaped her as her shoulders drooped once again. “Animals usually run away from me when I try to pet them. I think they find me...threatening.” She said that last word rather reluctantly, as though she was embarrassed.

Rantaro couldn’t help the good natured laugh that fell out of his mouth. “Well I can definitely see how they might think that, but you’re a lot gentler than you seem,” he told her, nudging her playfully on the shoulder just as she did earlier.

Peko felt her face heat up as the corners of her mouth nudged themselves upward. “I wish that animals could see that,” she said, still slightly dispirited, “But I am very glad that you think that of me, Rantaro,” she completed on a much happier note, eyes glimmering as he swiped to the next picture of another street cat.

“Of course I do. There’s no one else I’d want to take cute animal pictures for,” Rantaro said oddly affectionately, his words filled with a special kind of fondness for the Ultimate Swordswoman.

Peko’s smile grew ever so slightly. “I very much look forward to seeing you whenever you come back from your trips,” she said softly, eyes focused on the phone screen but words clearly meant to reach him. “I enjoy the animal pictures, of course, but it also brings me peace of mind knowing that you’ve returned safely.”

_‘Oh...wow.’_

The sentiment settled in Rantaro’s entire body, thawing the chilly marrows of his bones and making his cheeks turn pink. “Hey, wow uh, thanks Peko,” he told her, the heat in his cheeks growing warmer as conflicting feelings jumbled around in his chest as he searched for better words to express his gratitude.

“Of course,” she responded, eyes still glowing like the phone screen in front of her. “I am grateful that you go out of your way to do this for me. And I,” Peko frowned, trying to find the right words. “I appreciate that you do not shame me for enjoying cute things,” she finished. Though she wasn’t facing him, he could tell that her face was the same color as her striking eyes. 

_‘Am I doing this right?’_

“Of course I wouldn’t shame you,” Rantaro laughed kindly after finding his voice after a few seconds. “I told you, I enjoy doing this for you too.” 

He really did mean it. Traveling around the world searching for the twelve sisters you’d lost and coming up empty every time gets tiring and frustrating. But at least he can come back with some animal pictures to show Peko and know he at least did something right.

“I do quite enjoy your company too, Rantaro,” she said suddenly, making his heart stop. “Getting to see you and the pictures you take makes me feel,” Again, she searched for words. “Happy.” She stopped, and pondered her word choice. “Yes, happy,” she finally decided. “And I am grateful for this feeling of happiness you bring me,” she said firmly, confident in her choice of words.

_‘Am I doing this right?’_

Peko cherished the feeling of warmth that glowed within her entire body whenever she saw Rantaro heading towards her with a phone in his hand. She held that feeling that she got when looking through his camera roll close to her heart, every part of her never wanting to let it go but ultimately knowing that it won’t last forever. Every time she saw him, she knew that a day's worth of smiles was on its way, smiles that were so easy and natural and real, not forced like the ones she made herself put on for class pictures or portraits. She wished she could feel this way forever, but she knew better than most that happiness was fleeting and smiles were even more temporary.

But for now, here she stayed, trying to hold on to the feeling of glimmering eyes and sunsets in her cheeks for as long as she could.

_‘Be a normal high school girl. Make actual friends. Do whatever normal girls do.’_

“You know,” she began, unusually talkative today, but he didn’t mind. She reached out to touch the screen of the phone that was in his hand and swiped to the next photo, which was of a couple of piglets playing around in the mud. “You always know how to make me smile, Rantaro,” she said softly, her voice as light and fragile as a feather. Rantaro’s mind had both gone blank and his heart had been stopped for a concerning amount of time. He listened to her words intently, both appreciating her vulnerability and also not having a clue how to respond. Not sure how to take his silence, Peko continued, blushing furiously and ignoring the voice that wasn’t hers that was telling her to shut up.

“It has always been...difficult for me. I didn’t often have much of a reason to smile, or laugh.”

Her words crushed him like a boulder as Rantaro thought about how he never had much of a reason to feel anything other than ashamed.

“It is still difficult, but I find that with you it’s easy.”

_‘Am I doing this right?’_

Peko finished her small speech, turning her head to look at him. Her eyes were not stony or cold, but glittering brightly like jewels. The corners of her mouth were curled into a smile so full of contentment and pure happiness that Rantaro couldn’t help but break down the last layer of self protection that he used to guard himself from the world around him.

“That...geez, means a lot to me, Peko,” Rantaro was at a loss for words as he ruffled his grassy green hair with his free hand again. Perhaps she had said so little, but it had meant so much. “I’m really glad that you can enjoy being around me,” he told her sincerely. “Makes me feel like I’m good for something,” he chuckled, feeling as though a weight had just been lifted from his chest. 

He really meant it. 

Though years worth of guilt and remorse and self depreciation would not be easily washed away in a single moment, Rantaro felt like maybe this is where a small bit of it was chipped away. He recalled all the times he’d comfort his little sisters when they were crying, the satisfaction and happiness that would fill him when he got to wipe away their tears and see them smile again, faces raw and eyes still sparkling, and realized that today was the first time in years that he got to experience that feeling of joy again. 

Maybe it was selfish, but Rantaro felt a small flame rekindle itself within him knowing that someone relied on him for something. He held this tiny blaze of light close to him, determined to not snuff it out, feeling it flicker the same color as that someone’s eyes. After all, he felt untrustworthy and unreliable after losing his entire family around the world, and he’d never forgive himself until he rights those wrongs, but at least he can do this one thing right.

“Seriously, I’m just thrilled that I can feel useful to someone for once,” Rantaro blurted out, suddenly letting his emotional guard down for the first time in months, a tiny step forward.

“I understand that.” Peko gave a small laugh as her delicate smile softened her normally stony features. 

Somehow he felt like she really did.

  
  


A new type of smile erupted onto Rantaro’s pretty features, one that was filled with sunlight that could grow gardens and one that was overflowing with a certain kind of closeness she had never seen with him before. That familiar glow in her heart flickered, light seeping into her bones.

_‘Be a normal high school girl. Make actual friends. Do whatever normal girls do.’_

Understanding emotions did not come easy to Peko, but right now a small part of her wanted to try. She hoped that this boy who could instantly brighten her day by bringing her a couple animal pictures knew that he was important to her. Normal girls would let people know that.

_‘Am I doing this right?’_

_‘You are,’_ a voice that belonged to her told her. _‘You are.’_

Emotions did not come easy to her, but right now she was willing to try. 

“I enjoy being around you, Rantaro. I hope that you know that,” she told him, diamond dust in her eyes.

For the first time in a long time, he believed it.

“I enjoy being around you too, Peko. I hope you know that too,” he responded with a special kind of sentimentality permitted only for her.

For the first time in a long time, she believed it too.

There was a long silence between the two of them as they turned back to the phones to go through the various pictures Rantaro had taken, soaking in each other’s words and presence. It wasn’t stifling, but rather familiar and comfortable, like a warm heated blanket had suddenly enveloped the two. Huge bats, street dogs, even snakes of every color all flashed across the small screen as Peko allowed herself to indulge into something that she learned to not be ashamed of. Normally her striking red eyes burned through everyone with their intimidating glare, but looking at the silver haired girl sitting next to him, Rantaro saw those usually terrifying eyes melt into those like a begging puppy as they absorbed the images on the small screen. Staring at her, her garnet gaze sparkling and excited, Rantaro forgot why he had ever thought Peko to be threatening in the first place

Rather suddenly, she turned her head to face him, meeting his field of vision. Ruby red met emerald, and the two locked eyes as an emotion flashed across her face—Worry? Confusion? Rantaro wasn’t exactly sure what—Peko had always been harder to read than most—but he hoped he hadn’t abruptly been the reason that she felt anything negative. He was at fault for a lot of things in this world, but causing stress to this girl he only ever wanted to show animal pictures to would make him feel like the absolute garbage cherry on top. Peko took a small breath, and Rantaro braced himself for...well, he wasn’t sure what exactly.

But a question that he was least expecting fell out of the swordswoman's mouth.

“Are we friends?”

Rantaro blinked, caught off guard. 

‘ _Is she serious?_ ’ 

Out of all the unexpected questions she could have asked him, she chose one that he was actually vaguely thinking but never would have thought would actually come to light.

“Do _you_ think we’re friends?” he countered, genuinely curious. What did she think of him? Did she enjoy his company just as he enjoyed hers? Did she only want to see him because of the animal pictures or did she actually want to be around him?

What could she possibly think of him? 

Now it was Peko’s turn to be struck with silence. She frowned slightly, averting her eyes down to the table for a moment while she thought about her answer.

“I’d like to believe we are,” she responded finally, looking up to meet his eyes.

Rantaro couldn’t help but feel a small, familiar smile worm its way onto his face, and he was happy to see a matching one bloom on Peko’s usually unmoving features. 

  
  


So this was friendship.

  
  


“I’d like to believe we are too,” he replied. Not even Peko could miss the warmth that came free with his words.

“So...it’s settled then. We are friends,” she returned, eyes filled with sunshine.

“I guess we are.” The hint of a smile didn’t seem to leave his face. It didn’t seem to leave hers either.

That same wave of comfort swept through both of them once again, tying them together with an invisible thread of familiarity. Rantaro realized he wanted nothing more than to stay there for the rest of the day, looking at pictures of cute street cats with his friend, Peko. Luckily for him, she wanted to do the exact same.

So there they sat, in their comfortable silence with an occasional explanation from him and an excited gasp from her. Rantaro scrolled for what felt like days while looking at the most recent pictures of his trip and even going back to look at old ones too. After running out of pictures to show her, he pulled up various social media pages featuring dozens of different types of animals, Peko’s face lighting up like a toddler who’s been left alone in the candy aisle of a convenience store with every picture she saw. 

After an hour or two, Peko carefully laid her head on the shoulder of the green haired boy, taking the phone from his hands after noticing they were getting tired, and assumed control of the animal photo perusing. He breathed out a small sigh of relief as she did because his hands were, in fact, getting tired, but he felt no desire to leave her just yet.

_‘Maybe one day I’ll tell her,’_ Rantaro thought as he watched her double tap a video of a dalmatian puppy chasing its tail, a tiny breath of laughter escaping from her nose. Perhaps one day he’d tell her the real reason he traveled the world, the real reason he sees all these animals that he knows she appreciates far more than him. 

_‘Maybe one day I’ll tell him,’_ Peko contemplated as she smiled harder at a picture of a newborn kitten curled up against it’s snoozing mother, her cheeks growing slightly sore from how much she’d been smiling all day. Maybe one day she’d tell him the real reason she was at this school, what she was raised for, her true role in this world.

Slowly, he tilted his head to lay slightly on top of the silver head of hair that was nestled snugly in the crook of his neck. She didn’t mind. It had been years since she’d felt closeness like this. _‘This is nice,’_ She thought to herself. _‘What is this feeling called again?_

_Oh right._

_Friendship.’_

A fuzzy feeling erupted in her heart, a sentiment that was also shared by the grassy haired boy that was supporting her head, whose skin felt warm and present and real against hers.

Maybe one day they’d tell each other everything. Maybe one day he could tell her how he lost the most important people in the world to him, and maybe she could tell him how she lost herself for the most important person in the world to her. But for now, here they sat in the dining hall, unknowingly holding up the weight of each other’s worlds and looking at baby animal pictures. 

  
  


And maybe that’s just what they both needed right now.

  
  
  



End file.
